Rain
by SerenaXiyade
Summary: Temari hates rain, but those feelings change after a stormy night with Shikamaru.
1. Party

Rain

Chapter 1

Temari stood by the window of the bathroom and sighed. "I hate rain..." she said, listening to it hit the window. Rain in the desert was rare, but when it happened it came in monsoons. It turned all of the desert sand into muddy quick-sand, didn't make anything grow, and made their toilets overflow.

"Yeah I know," Kankurou said mischievously, wiping away a stray line in his make-up. "It makes your hair even frizzier than it already is."

"Shut up. I'm not the one that spends two hours a day doing my make-up."

"At least I look good."

Shaking her head, she took a deep breath and walked over to the mirror, standing above him. "Where are my hair-things?"

"Right here."

"Stop moving them."

"I need room for my paint and my powder that keeps it in place and stuff."

"Whatever." Temari quickly tied her hair up into the four pony-tails it was usually in, then made to leave the bathroom, but before she did that she waited until Kankurou was painting the long line over his nose, then she slapped the side of his face and made him send the paintbrush up onto his forehead. Giggling as she only could around her brother, she ran off.

"You bitch. I'm gonna ignore what you just did but don't you at least think you should wear something different from what you usually do? I mean we're going to a party."

"We're already an hour late," she replied from outside the bathroom door. "And I mean it's just Hinata. She's not much of an expert dresser herself."

"You've been living inside of one of Gaara's sand-shields, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's a music party to show off her first video. She started doing pop music, remember?"

"WHAT? _That_ little mouse?"

"Yeah. I dunno what's been going on in the Sound Village but they've been spewing out a lot of musical groups and I guess Hinata was inspired by that. She's cute but her voice is really high and her songs are really sweet. I don't like it that much, but apparently she's become really popular with like, teenage girls and stuff. You fuck-ass, you made me get paint on my hood. You can't get that out with just water."

"But she still doesn't look so great."

"Wrong. From the pictures I've seen she's been wearing some serious designer shit. She actually looks pretty sexy, but I'll always remember her as the little Hyuuga mouse."

"So she made a music video huh? Who invited us anyway?"

"Shikamaru. He said Hinata wanted everyone to come and he figured that included us. But because you decided to take forever getting out of goddamn bed we probably already missed the video. What the hell were you doing sleeping until six pm anyway?"

"That asshole. He knows we're busy. Why did you accept?"

"What do you have against Konoha? Seriously. I like having a social life, Temari."

"Whatever. Is Gaara going?"

"Of course."

"And we're supposed to dance?"

"Well, yeah. But you know Gaara's going to be a wallflower. You probably will too, now that I think of it But who knows, maybe Shikamaru will want you to dance with him. He obviously thought of you."

Before Temari could retort Gaara came walking down the hallway, and he glanced at her. "Are you ready yet?" he asked in his usual stoic voice.

"Yes. Kankurou's finishing his make-up, though."

"You should wear something nicer, Temari."

"Maybe the two of you should wear something nicer too, then. I'm not out to impress anyone. I didn't even want to go."

"Think of it as a way to continue improving relations with Konoha."

"Whatever."

When they all left, it was still raining, so they grabbed the only two umbrellas they could find and set off. Just as Kankurou had predicted, they had missed the video, but they saw an even more impressive spectacle. Shinobi and non-shinobi teenagers grinding. My my.

One corner of Gaara's mouth curved upwards. They were in Kiba's apartment and the most beautiful girl he had seen in some time stepped out of the kitchen, her waist-length perfectly straight fine black hair floating behind her, and she looked over her shoulder back into the kitchen with a seductive, flirtatious smile. When she lifted her arm to move her hair out of her face, a bunch of shiny bracelets fell down her forearm, the crystal heart hanging from one of her necklaces casting a rainbow around the room when it was hit by the light. She was wearing a tiny jean skirt with rhinestones on it and a tight, long, short-sleeved black shirt that was unbuttoned at the top, revealing a bit of cleavage and a hint of a lacy bra. Her slouchy boots were stilletos, raising her about an inch above everyone else in the room. Her straight bangs covered her forehead reaching just past her eyebrows, and her eyes were a lovely, pure shade of lavender and..._wait_. When she had finally faced forward again, Naruto came following her out of the kitchen, his mouth hanging open as he drooled in delight, like a puppy.

"Oh, there she is!" said Kankurou, pointing at the girl that had emerged from the kitchen before she could disappear into the dancing crowd. "I told you she was cute."

Both Temari and Gaara stared at her with their mouths hanging open and their eyes wide. Suddenly Temari felt very ugly indeed in her long, plain, black kimono, and she closed her mouth, looking down at her dirty sandals. Gaara recovered also, but he looked a little bit paranoid for the rest of the night. After all, he had been the one thinking about how gorgeous she looked when he had never liked her or disliked her or anything at all before.

To keep herself from getting any more annoyed than she was, Temari stood on her tip-toes and sought out a high, brown pony-tail in the sea of heads that filled the living room. When she found it, she waded through the throngs of people she had never even seen before to reach it, and placed her hand on his shoulder. He didn't turn around.

"You should never, ever approach a man from behind," he said, but she had to strain her ears to hear him over the voices and the music with the loud, heavy, foreign beat. It was blaring from two huge speakers in the back of the room -attached to a radio that looked tiny in comparison- which were vibrating, and she could see metal disks pounding beneath the black mesh.

"Man, eh?" she asked, raising one eyebrow as she smiled. Even though he was a chuunin, as far as she was concerned, he was still a boy. She hardly considered herself a woman and she was eighteen.

"I was starting to think you had no life, and I was right."

"Shut up. It was so 'troublesome' to get here but the fact is that I'm here, aren't I? Like you wanted me to be."

"It wasn't me that wanted you to be here. It was Hinata."

For some reason that stung, and Temari frowned, her fingernails digging into his shoulder. But when he finally turned around, she saw that he was smiling. One corner of her mouth curved upwards. When she didn't remove her hand from his shoulder, he assumed she was silently asking him a question.

"I don't dance."

It took Temari a moment to realize what he was talking about. "Oh. Well... you do now. I mean there's no alcohol so what else are we supposed to do?" she replied, shrugging and pretending that she had been asking him to dance with her.

"Whatever.." He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her a little closer, causing her to stop breathing for a minute, but she kept her cool and locked her wrists behind his neck.

Gaara and Kankurou leaned on the wall opposite the speakers and watched Temari. "And here I was thinking she would be the one back here," he sighed, shaking his head.

"No one's stopping you from dancing."

"You have to dance with someone, you can't just be by yourself."

"Ask that blond one with the long ponytail, then. She's not dancing."

Gaara was referring to Ino, but Kankurou cast an eye at her, then shook his head. She was leaning over the back of the couch where Sai sat as he looked furiously through a book for something, anything, about dances and other people. It was obvious that she was trying to get his attention, wearing a V-neck shirt and revealing her cleavage as she crossed her arms over the couch, squeezing her breasts between them. She was talking as well, but when he didn't look up, she reached over, grabbed the book, and tossed it over her shoulder. She said something else that Kankurou couldn't hear over the music as Sai stared at his empty hands. When he finally looked up at her, she smiled sweetly, and held out one hand. He nodded almost nervously, then jumped over the back of the couch and followed her onto the dance floor.

When they passed Shikamaru and Temari, Shikamaru looked at them, smiling faintly.

"I mean we don't even have to grind. We can just do normal dancing," Ino was saying, but he gave her his usual sweet and naive 'Sai' smile and shook his head.

"Please, I would like to do what everyone else is doing. That would be 'normal,' wouldn't it?"

Shikamaru laughed, then pointed out Ino and Sai to Temari. "She always chooses weird ones," he told her in her ear, and they both smiled.

"Um, yeah, okay, that's fine," Ino said nervously. Sai slipped his arms around her waist first, then slid his hand down her back and pushed her against him.

"Like this, right?"

"Ye..yes," she breathed, clearly both surprised and turned on, and they started to grind. The whole time, Ino was turning different colors, but Shikamaru couldn't figure out why. It didn't look like Sai was doing anything wrong. He was even looking at her differently, pulling her arms around his neck and being sexy like he saw everyone else doing.

Shikamaru shook his head, and returned his focus to Temari. At the moment, it seemed so perfectly natural for him to be dancing with her, even though they weren't grinding. They were just dancing closely. Even so, he would get embarrassed when he thought about it later that week. He wondered if she felt as natural and at ease. Judging by the seductive little smile on her face and her clear, half-closed eyes, she was fine, but he could feel her heartbeat in her back as he slid one hand up towards her shoulders and back down again. Her smile faltered just a little, and he knew he was testing her. Before he could test her a little more, the song ended, and she took a step back, removing her arms from his shoulders.

"You don't want to dance again?" he asked.

"I would love too. I hope this next one's faster. We may do circle dances where I come from but that doesn't mean I don't know how the rest of the world gets it on," she said as if daring him. And lo and behold, the next one was much faster. They didn't touch each other at all as they danced to it, and Shikamaru was having a hard time keeping up with her. He couldn't match or even somehow balance with her movements. It was nothing like a fight. In fact, he was impressed. With the way she was moving he could tell that she had quite the body beneath that kimono she wore, and she laughed at his inability to really let go and dance. "I'm not the one that should be leading you for this type of song," she said. "The music is what's supposed to do that."

But even when he tried to just listen to the music, no dance moves came to mind. "This is too troublesome," he sighed when the song ended. "What's the legal drinking age here? Aren't you going to get us some beer, Temari? You're the oldest one here," he joked. "But seriously I am thirsty. Let's go get a soda."

Temari wasn't tired or thirsty in the least. "You go ahead. I'm, I'm really having fun. It's been a while since I went out dancing."

He smiled and nodded, not wanting to ruin her good mood or convince her to go with him. "Okay. See ya in a little while, then," he told her before turning around and disappearing in the crowd.

Looking around, Temari, tried to figure out who was there that she knew. Suddenly both Tenten and Sakura grabbed her arms, giggling.

"Hey! Let's daaance!" they sang happily, and Temari obliged.

She danced for four hours straight, and when circles opened around people who were doing particularly impressive moves she was often the one in the middle, sometimes alone and sometimes with Sakura or Ino. At one point Hinata approached her and held out her hand, and taking it, Temari lifted it above her head and grinded with the girl who was no longer shy or timid. She completely forgot about Shikamaru, even when her favorite song came on and Hinata switched the radio to karaoke mode for her. Standing between the speakers and in front of Hinata and Ino, she sang the song while wearing a head-set microphone and danced, the two girls behind her matching her movements perfectly during the choruses. When Hinata got Ino and Sai to belly-dance, she was up there with them, her hips in sync with theirs. By the time the party started to wind down she was completely exhausted, her feet killing her and her stomach complaining from having its contents shaken up too much.

She sank into the couch gratefully and almost closed her eyes before she realized that she was sitting next to Shikamaru.

"Dancing is altogether different from shinobi arts," he said to her in apology.

"What? So?" She didn't quite understand.

"I'm usually the strategist, right, but I can't keep up with you while you're dancing. I have no inner beat. That's why I didn't come find you again."

"Oh. Oh! I'm sorry, I completely forgot that we were supposed to be dancing together. But please give me a minute to just breathe. I am completely drained," she said, leaning all the way back.

"Um...sure."

"Temari. Kankurou and I are going home. Are you ready?"

Gaara interrupted her breathing session and she pursed her lips at them. "You guys go on ahead. I'm getting a hotel room tonight," she told them, her entire body aflame like she had a good workout.

Kankurou grinned. "Don't want to mess up his sheets, huh?" he asked, and Gaara swatted him in the back of the head.

"You rest, then. I'll see you tomorrow," he told her simply, then turned around and walked out as Kankurou winked at Shikamaru.

"What's his deal?" Shikamaru asked about Kankurou.

"I don't even know."

"Did you already reserve a room?"

"What? No."

"It will be hard to get one at this time of night."

"Shit."

After a moment of silence, Shikamaru shrugged non-chalantly. "I have an extra futon at my place, if you want. You can stay the night, rest up, take a shower, then get going in the morning."

"That would be perfect. Thank you so much, Shikamaru," she sighed gratefully.

"Sure." It took him a moment to realize what he had just done, but he couldn't freak out about it or take back his offer. He slapped his hand to his forehead and bared his teeth, thinking about how troublesome it would be to have a guest, and a female one nonetheless. His apartment only had one room which served as the kitchen, the bedroom, the living room, and the dining room, so there was nothing to separate their futons unless one of them slept in the bathroom. And he knew that neither of them were willing to do that. "Let's get out of here, then."

"Okay." Temari stood up, but she wobbled a little, and when Shikamaru instinctively held out his hand she didn't take it. They walked over to the exit and Temari cursed again as she saw that her brothers had taken both umbrellas, but when they got outside Shikamaru held his above her like he had expected her not to have an umbrella, no questions asked. But he did complain a little.

"You need to buy your own umbrella before you leave," he told her, yawning.

"I hate rain. It's rare in the sand village so of course we don't have that many umbrellas, but when it does rain everything gets messed up. It's so hard to clean everything," she sighed. _Not to mention, I didn't bring my wallet did I..._

Sakura and Naruto left at the same time as the two of them, and as they were walking towards Sakura's house Ino ran up to them and dove under their umbrellas.

"You know how you were telling me about how Sai always talks about how small Naruto's penis is?" she asked, unable to stop giggling. She was tomato red, and both Sakura and Naruto quickly turned the same color. "Well, I was grinding with Sai, and I could feel everything. Everything! You know? And IT'S HUGE!"

Both Temari and Shikamaru snickered at this outburst and walked a little faster towards his house. "I bet it is," Temari commented, trying to stop laughing.

"Guys should never, ever compare penises. That's gay," Shikamaru replied, and she only laughed more.


	2. First Night

Chapter 2 - First Night

When they got to his apartment he immediately went to get the futon as Temari finished taking off her shoes and put them in a little rack by the door. The whole place was just one room with two sliding doors on the right side, one leading to a closet and the other to a bathroom. He opened the closet door to get the extra futon out while she looked around. She was surprised at how neat everything was. The room wasn't decorated at all, save the one red pillow on the windowsill in the back of the room, opposite the door. The floor was covered with large, light-colored bamboo mats that stayed perfectly in place when she walked over them, and the walls were all a creamy white that looked a little bit more yellow in the orangey light of the two lamps that were on in opposite corners of the back of the room. To the left of the door was a fridge, a stove, a sink, and a counter with cabinets beneath them, but it all looked like it hadn't been used in years. The garbage can was overflowing with paper plates.

"It's too troublesome to wash dishes," Shikamaru said when he noticed her looking at them.

"Yeah it's annoying. That's why we have a dishwasher at my place. But even filling and emptying it can be cumbersome," she replied, shifting her focus to him as he laid out two futons, one after the other.

"So the bathroom's over there, there are towels and stuff hanging around somewhere for when you need a shower, um, I guess we'll go out for breakfast in the morning. I don't have much here. You're not hungry now, right?" he explained, straightening the pillows.

"No." Temari shook her head, even though she was positively starving. Dancing took energy. Especially four hours of it. But, she wasn't in the mood to hear him complain about feeding her. She hadn't brought any money so it would have to be his treat.

"Okay."

"You don't have a table or anything?"

"For what? I'm only here at night, anyway. Damn missions."

She shrugged. "Alright." She walked over to the bathroom and left the door open, wondering if she was supposed to make conversation with him. "So how was the video?" she asked from inside, looking at his sink. The bathroom seemed clean, but there were towels just lying around everywhere. They were hanging on a rack and draped over the back of the toilet and hanging from the curtain rod of the shower.

"Hinata's?"

"Yeah. Can I use this?" She held up a brush that she had found as she took out her ponytails, raising her eyebrow at the brown hairs tangled inside it. They weren't dirty, so she was okay with it.

"What?"

"Your brush."

He cast an eye at her, standing outside the bathroom door. "Um, yeah, sure. Are you sure you should be brushing hair like that though?"

"What do you mean?" She adjusted his mirror to look at him, frowning.

"I mean your hair is really thick, curly. It looks like Shakira's."

"Shakira?"

"She's a singer. And a dancer. Speaking of which, you were pretty good, you know, dancing and singing and all."

She snorted. "Yeah. Thanks."

"I mean it was kind of ridiculous but all in all-"

"OKAY Shikamaru. I get it." She almost laughed as she put the brush down and smoothed her hair with her hands.

"You get what?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Women. Maybe this was a bad idea. How troublesome, having to set up a bed for you."

Instead of getting annoyed, she just smiled, removing her obi. "I'll go home, if you want."

"No. It would be even more troublesome to have to walk you when I'm already ready to go to sleep."

"You don't need to escort me. I'm not here on official business. I can protect myself, thank you very much."

"I already set up your bed. I don't want to have to put it back."

Temari turned her head to look at him, raising one eyebrow. "I am going to kill you if you make even one more lazy complaint. I swear I will," she said, giving him another daring smile.

"With what?" He snorted, crossing his arms. "You didn't bring your fan."

"If you don't need a weapon to try and defeat me then I don't need one either. Plus, I can use whatever you have lying around. I could even use this hairbrush," she said tauntingly, then closed one eye and pointed the brush at him like a gun.

He rolled his eyes. "Just go to sleep now. And give me that." Walking over, he snatched his brush from her and undid his ponytail, then proceeded to quickly brush his hair.

"Why do you keep your hair so long?" she asked quietly, watching him. It was strange to see him with his hair almost reaching his shoulders.

"It's too troublesome to have it cut all the time," he told her, not looking at her in the mirror.

"It's too troublesome to kill you when I'm so tired."

"You asked."

"Isn't it harder to take care of it when it's long?"

"Oh shut up."

"Fine," she sighed contentedly, sinking to her knees and crossing her arms over the sink. She rested her head on her arms and closed her eyes for a while, until Shikamaru nudged her with his foot.

"Hey hey, don't fall asleep! What did I set up the futon for?"

"Alright alright! You know, you'd make a terrible husband. Or father. Or friend. You're just a terrible person, aren't you?" she said jokingly as she got up and sat back down on the nearest futon. "You nag constantly!"

"_I_ nag? Are you kidding?" He took off his shirt and walked over to his closet to find a set of pj's, forgetting that he was getting undressed in front of a girl. She raised her eyebrows at him as he stripped down to his boxers and pulled on a big shirt. When he turned around and saw her holding in a laugh, he realized what he had been doing and tensed up.

"Yeah, hi, I'm Temari, I'm in your room, sleeping over," she said, waving as she pulled back the futon covers.

"That's mine!"

"Too bad." She put her head down on the pillow, pulling the covers up to her chin and closing her eyes with a smile.

"Oh come on. You're drunk, aren't you?" he snapped, stomping over to her. He nudged her shoulder with his foot, crossing his arms. "Come on! Get out of my bed. I set up your own for you." When she only squeezed her eyes shut tighter, he rolled his eyes and sighed, exasperatedly. "Fine. Fine, fine."

He turned out the lights and crawled into the other futon he had set up, sighing again as he lay on his back. He stared at the ceiling for a while, crossing his legs, then glanced over at Temari.

"What shampoo do you use?" she asked quietly, and he wondered if she was joking. He couldn't see her face, as she lay on her side with her back to him.

"Whatever my mom buys for me."

"Oh. Well whatever it is, it made your pillow smell nice."

He smiled faintly, and closed his eyes.


	3. Escape

Chapter 3 - Escape

He awoke to the faint sound of breathing, and tried to keep his eyes closed. But, it felt so close-by that he finally opened up one eye, and nearly screamed. Temari had somehow managed to roll off of her (his) futon and onto the floor right next to him, her face only inches from his. She was on her side, curled up with her hands by her mouth and her eyes closed. He could see how clean her skin was and how long her eyelashes were, and he almost smiled. She looked so...sweet.

"They're so cute when they're sleeping," he whispered before getting up.

He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and wrote her a note, and he was about to leave the apartment to go for a walk when he looked at her again. She was on her stomach with one arm wrapped around the pillow he had slept on and the other reaching back and clutching her pillow, her blanket caught on her ankle. He shook his head, then walked over to her.

He pulled the blanket off of her ankle, trying not to look at her legs too much as her kimono was wide open. He took both pillows away from her and set one aside to put away, planning to slip the other under her head. But there was no way to do so without touching her. He pursed his lips, trying to convince himself to just leave, but he couldn't. He sighed, then decided to just get it over with. He slipped one hand under her neck as quickly as he could and lifted her head, then slid a pillow under it, but just as he was letting go of her head she started to move. He froze, leaving his hand where it was as she turned over, revealing what was beneath her kimono.

"Wow," he couldn't stop himself from breathing, then quickly grew tense and let go of her, grabbed the blanket and threw it haphazardly on top of her before running out.

"Oh man, I can't believe I just saw her practically naked," he sighed once he was out the door, covering his face with one hand. "How troublesome. I'm going to be thinking about it all day," he told himself, putting his hands in his pockets, and tried not to think about how her lacy, dipping, full bra matched her low, low, _low_-rising underwear perfectly, how it was almost the same color as her skin, disappearing into it for a split second before he had realized that it was there. Then there was her waist, which curved into... he pursed his lips again, telling himself to shut up already. He grabbed his umbrella from where he had leaned it against the wall the night before and set off.

Temari awoke to find herself completely alone, and it bothered her. Her stomach felt cold and empty, and she covered her face with both hands as she kicked the blanket off. It took her a few moments to realize that she was lying between the two futons and that it was the pillow he had slept on last night that was under her head.

"Shit," she said, sitting up instantly. But she sat up too fast, giving herself an instant headache. She drew her knees up and rested her forehead on them for a moment while her blood rushed to the places where it was supposed to be. She could only hear water rushing through pipes, the distant sound of a ticking clock and the patter of the rain against the window. Standing up, she dragged the blanket over to the windowsill and sat down on it, drawing the blanket into her lap as she wrapped her arms around the red pillow.

Out the window she could only see gray. Gray sky, gray streets, gray buildings, and black umbrellas hiding gray people. She still hated rain, but she felt unusually comfortable, warm, and like there was nothing she needed to do. Everything was distant.

"Where could he have gone?" She leaned her head on the window, watching drops of water slide down it and grow bigger as they fell into each other, falling faster and faster until they disappeared. _To get breakfast, I hope_, she thought, touching her stomach. It was completely flat and starting to growl. "Oh God." It suddenly occurred to her that if her head had been on his pillow, she must have fallen off of her futon, which certainly meant that the blanket came off with her, which meant that Shikamaru had put it on her before he left. And that meant... "This _was_ a bad idea."

But she didn't feel as embarrassed as she thought she would feel upon realizing that he must have seen her bare skin. After all, it wasn't like she wasn't wearing a bra or anything, but the bra that she was wearing was her favorite, her sexiest. It always made her feel nice to know that she was wearing something pretty beneath her plain kimono. She wondered if she subconsciously put that bra on with the intent of letting someone see it. Sighing, she stood up and walked into the bathroom, wrapping the blanket around herself.

The clock she had heard stood on top of the mirror, and she stood on her tiptoes to squint at it. It was already past noon. "I should go," she said to herself, clutching the blanket a little tighter. "But I'll at least clean up."

Returning to the room, she reluctantly let go of the blanket and folded it nicely. She rolled up the futons and put them in front of the closet door, placing the pillows gently on top of them. She got her obi from where she had left it by the bathroom sink and put it on. Looking at herself stoically in the mirror, she started to feel how alone she was in that apartment, and it gave her an odd sense of exhaustion. She wrapped her obi around her waist a few times and tied it into a simple knot rather than the bow she usually used, then started to fix her hair. Picking up the brush, she ignored what he had said about brushing hair like hers and reached for her hair things. They were exactly where she had left them, although the sides of the sink were wet from when he must've brushed his teeth. When she was finished putting her hair up, she cleaned all of the hair out of the brush and put it down where she had found it, then threw the hair away in the little garbage can by the sink.

Although she felt like she was missing something when she put on her shoes, she ignored the feeling and walked out the door. There wasn't another umbrella to be seen, and she sighed, knowing that by the time she got home she would have a cold if she didn't find one somewhere. Luckily for her, however, the rain had died down and it was only drizzling when she left the building. She vaguely wondered where the few people she had seen before went, then started to walk, crossing her arms over her chest. It was colder than she had expected, but she was a ninja, so she told herself she'd be fine. As she walked she kept an eye out for a lost umbrella she could use, but the streets were perfectly clean. She turned off to the right to go into the park, knowing that the trees would more or less shelter her if it started to rain harder. Forgetting all about the clearing she would hit when she reached the riverside, she walked quickly down the path, wishing that it wasn't so silent. She wasn't getting any danger vibes, but she hated even the sound of the rain, and it was the only sound she could hear other than her own footsteps, drops of water hitting the backs of her legs as she walked through small puddles.

When she hit the clearing and the path turned along the river, she stopped, the rain coming down harder.

"Shit," she sighed, looking across from her at the river. It was moving fast, foaming with white where it ran over large rocks, and she could smell how cold it was. But she noticed a figure, leaning forward over the black fence separating the path from the riverbank. She couldn't see his head as his umbrella was blocking it, but she saw wisps of smoke float from beneath the umbrella and she recognized the chunin vest.

He turned around, a cigarette hanging from between his unsmiling lips, and beckoned to her as her eyes widened. She ran over as quickly as she could, but in the heavy rain her shoulders were soaked almost immediately.

"You should have come to me you idiot," she growled at him once she was under the umbrella, trying not to bump shoulders with him and stay dry at the same time.

"It's easier if you come to me," he replied simply, transferring his umbrella to the other hand. Before she could ask what he was doing, he linked arms with her and switched hands again.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, but swallowed nervously. The bare skin of her forearm was against his, and she briefly complained in her mind about having marks from his mesh there later. Even though she had been trying not to touch him, their shoulders were pressed together now, and unless she wanted to get even more wet than she already was, there was nothing she could do about it.

He was equally uncomfortable. Providing for a woman was more trouble than it was probably worth, he found himself thinking. But it wasn't like he had to stay like that forever. She would leave that afternoon and that would be the end of that.

She would have been perfectly happy not saying anything, but he figured he should say something to her. There was something romantic about silence, and he wanted none of that.

"Why didn't you wait up for me?" he asked without looking at her. The formations of the rain drops hitting the water in the river caught his eye, different every time.

"How was I supposed to know you wanted me to when you didn't even leave a note?"

"It's not my fault if you can't see things that are right in front of you."

_So that's what I missed_, Temari thought, remembering the odd feeling she had as she left the house.

"So you made me waste paper and you're not even sorry about it?" he said, taking her silence as some kind of stubborn submission.

"Why would I be sorry about your paper?" she snapped, turning to look at him. She stopped when she noticed that the cigarette had been in the corner of his mouth the whole time. "You've really perfected that, haven't you," she commented slyly, a small smile crossing her lips.

"What?"

"Talking and smoking at the same time. I bet it makes a loser like you feel cool, doesn't it?" She looked at him again, still smiling, and he glanced at her. But when their eyes met they both turned away. When she was sure he wasn't looking anymore she watched him again from the corners of her eyes, specifically his mouth. Asuma-sensei had been the only really 'good' person she had ever seen that smoked, and she understood that Shikamaru was only doing it in memory of him, but there was still something so bad-ass and nonchalant and...sexual about it. His eyes were half-closed, hardly focused and glassy, reflecting the grayness of the rainy sky, the faint glow of the cigarette casting a red glint into them. His chapped lips were parted over it just slightly, and she could see the faint gleam of his white teeth, which made her wish she had at least rinsed her mouth with some water. She would bet thousands of dollars that he wasn't thinking about _anything_. But, she was wrong.

He was nervous. But as much as he disliked them, cigarettes had a calming effect, allowing him to link arms with this girl, no, _woman_, and be cool about it. After all, as a ninja, if he wasn't hitting someone, he didn't touch anyone. Ever. Even his parents didn't touch very much, and they were married with children. He turned his head to look at her, but when she caught his glance she didn't look away, her smile widening ever so slightly. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Sure."

She pursed her lips, thinking about smoking again. She had never done anything like that. She didn't smoke, she had never drank, she had never even seen drugs like pot or whatever, and hell, she was still a virgin. But, the people she had seen who did things like that were always outside, doing whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, with no care for anyone else. They wore tattered, dirty, revealing clothes, said anything they felt like saying, never had to do anyone else's bidding, and never had to think things through. It was a life without missions or responsibilities, a life that belonged purely to oneself.

"Can I try one?"

He blinked at her. "No."

"Why not?"

"If you don't like it, which you won't, I'll have wasted a cigarette and these things are expensive these days. If you want one, go buy your own."

"You know I didn't bring any money."

"You knew you were coming to a party in Konoha. You should have been more prepared. Why do I have to lecture you about these things? No umbrella, no money, how did you expect to get a hotel room? Its not like you to be like that."

She snorted. "How would you know what I'm like? For all you know, I spend my days getting high and staring at pretty shapes in the _clouds_."

"You're under my umbrella, Temari."

She froze right there. He had said her name as flatly and vapidly as possible, but it was without honorifics, as though he was saying that he did know her. Her smile faded, and she held out her hand expectantly. "Just let me try one. If I don't like it you can finish it."

"But I'm still on this one. That one will get all soggy if it just sits there while I finish the one I already have. Here, just try mine," he sighed, taking his from his mouth and holding it between two fingers before her.

"No." She was already pressed against him under his tiny umbrella. Sharing his cigarette would be going too far.

"How childish. You're supposed to be the more mature one here. I don't have cooties."

"Just let me have one."

"Fine, fine, if you'll shut up already."

She smiled again as he placed his cigarette back in his mouth, balancing it between his teeth as he reached back and searched through his pouch for his pack and a lighter. Once he found it he opened the pack and held it out to her.

"Take one," he snapped, brandishing it at her when she just looked at it. "Okay. Don't bite it. You just have to hold it gently between your lips while I light it."

She did as she was told, but it was hard to get comfortable with it right away. She tried putting it on either side of her mouth, then finally held it in the middle between two fingers like he had done. It took him two tries to get his silver, flip-top lighter on, and when he did he put one hand around the flame to block the wind.

"Hold the umbrella," he said as faced her, having wanted to lock the umbrella in his elbow without it falling, but that wouldn't work unless he pressed on her arm harder. "Okay. If I just put the flame on it it will catch fire, so I'm going to just touch the flame to it and you have to, to," he wanted to say 'suck and blow' but that didn't strike him as the word choice. "to breath in and out through the cigarette to get it to burn."

She did as she was told, but when the smoke went to the back of her throat she started to cough immediately, holding the burning cigarette away as she covered her mouth.

He smiled proudly, taking the umbrella. "I told you."

"No one gets it on their first try," she snapped in reply, her eyes tearing, then raised the cigarette to her lips again. She closed her eyes, envisioning everyone she had ever seen smoking, and did what she had seen them doing. It became easier immediately, and when she opened her eyes again, it was only half-way. Her stomach felt empty and cold again, and she got the feeling that she wanted to go back to sleep, or maybe just lay back and finish that cigarette. Suddenly she realized that she just felt lazy. Taking in a long drag, she released the smoke through her lips towards the river, where it floated and curled away, dispersing in the rain. She smiled.

"Thank you."

He tried to smile back, but he felt an odd sense of excitement in his stomach. Still facing her, holding the umbrella between them, he watched her smoking, and knew that she was no longer focused on him. The glow of the cigarette lit up her face and her dark eyes, making them look like pools of deep, dark water. He found himself thinking about drug addicts as well, wondering if were he ever to get high with her, if he would want to dive into those cold eyes. Thinking about it made him feel more awake, and he felt impatient. Something was supposed to happen. Just smoking was boring. He was surprised at himself for thinking that. She moved the cigarette to the other corner of her mouth just with her lips, smooth and pink and shiny as she puckered and unpuckered them, pushing the cigarette over with her tongue. He leaned down and kissed her.


	4. Interlude

Chapter 4 - Interlude

Her cigarette promptly fell out of her open mouth as his tongue touched hers, but his remained in the corner of his mouth. He held her face still with one hand, a hand that was callused from missions and training, and his other slid around her waist, his fingers digging into her side. He had wanted it to be soft but it wasn't; it was tight and hard with muscle. Her hands dropped to her sides and the umbrella was caught between their chests, held in place only by that pressure. He kissed her hard, his eyes open slightly, hers squeezed shut as he chased her tongue with his. They could both only taste cigarette smoke, and he pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and threw it into the river without breaking the kiss. Her eyes relaxed and she wrapped her arms around his neck, one hand sliding up to the back of his head and she pulled him down hard, not caring that his chapped lips were scratching hers. They were wet, wet with water and saliva, and when he backed up to bring them down to her chin and neck their tongues followed each other. He bit into the flesh of her neck, sucking it in, trying to fill his mouth with it, and his hand traveled down to her chest. Her breasts had the softness he was looking for and he closed his hand around one, earning a gasp from her. But when he tried to slide his hand into her kimono, to feel her bare skin fill his hand, she clamped her fingers around his wrist, digging in with her nails. She gathered his hair into her other hand and pulled, then let go of his wrist and lifted his chin as she licked his lips. After she loosened her her hold on him he straightened up, and they kissed more slowly, her hands on his chest and his on her back.

"Stfu!"

Ino threw one arm around Sai and clamped her hand over his mouth, freezing in place for a split second. She pulled him off the path and behind a tree, watching the two figures by the river carefully.

"What're you doing?" Sai whispered as her hand dropped. She had asked him to come and walk in the park with her even though it was raining, but when she caught sight of the two figures pressed together by the waterside, she told him to shut up in a language he couldn't understand and here they were.

She looked at them carefully. It was Shikamaru and Temari, that was clear enough, but Ino could have sworn that Gaara and Kankurou went home. What was she doing there? Ino focused on them more, then gasped. They were making out. _Making out_. But more than that. Was that his hand on her chest? How long had this been going on? A cigarette smoldered by their feet which Ino assumed Shikamaru had thrown away when they started kissing. But that raised more questions for her. Narrowing her eyes, she decided to bug him about it when it was nice out. She remembered all of the times that he had taken care of her body when she did the mind transfer jutsu, and wished she could have remembered the feel of his hands holding her up. But then she chastised herself. She had never liked him at all. He was lazy and inconsiderate and always calling her 'troublesome.' The only reason she was feeling anything was because her teammate was keeping this new relationship hidden from her, and suddenly she smiled, struck with the fact that all of them had indeed grown up a little. _You get extra coolness points for being with an older woman_, she thought to herself, winking at no one in particular.

She froze again when she felt Sai's arm around her waist, his cold hand on her side as he looked over her shoulder to see what she was seeing.

"They're kissing," he whispered. "Doesn't that mean they're in love?"

"You don't have to be in love with someone to want to kiss them." She certainly wasn't in love with Sai, especially since she found out about his lack of emotional capabilities. She didn't want to be the one to explain something to him that she herself didn't even understand. "It's complicated." She thought Sai was hot. And when his body was against hers the night before, when his hips and stomach were moving as Hinata showed him how to belly-dance, something had gone off in her that made her want to rip her clothes off and fuck him where he stood. As she thought about it she still wanted him like that, but if he was incapable of emotions then she might as well just put in a super-sized tampon with him in the room. She wondered if his hormones worked like everyone else's did, if he was receptive to the fact that even though she didn't love him she was turned on by him.

"So it would seem," he replied quietly, and she could feel his breath on her neck, half of his body against hers. He looked down at her neck, and moved her long ponytail out of his face, then ran two fingers along the curve of her neck. It was pretty, and it made him want to draw it, to trace out the contour with his pencil, to shade in the shadow that led down her collar bone, half hidden under her shirt. Of course, he was oblivious to the reason that all of her muscles had suddenly tensed.

It then occurred to Ino that she was a ninja. Where did love and lust fit into her life, anyway?


	5. Extempore

Chapter 5 – Extempore

_Warning: This chapter is all about the sex._

"The grass, it's too wet." Shikamaru closed his hand around Temari's wrist and started to run, pulling her along and ignoring that Ino and Sai were hidden behind a tree. At the moment he didn't care about what they saw or thought. He could only think about one thing, and he needed that one thing fast.

They made it to his apartment building in record time, but he didn't stop running, pulling her up the stairs. He dropped the open umbrella outside his apartment and flung the door open, then threw her down in the middle of the floor, shoes and all. She narrowed her eyes, annoyed at being treated like that, but he dropped to all fours on top of her immediately afterwards, forcing his mouth against hers. She knew what it was that he wanted when his hips touched hers. His hardness surprised her and she started sweating, wondering if she should make him stop.

It felt like she didn't have a choice.

Her whole body was heating up fast, as was his, and he reached beneath her back to pull the tie in her obi to the front. Too impatient to undo the knot, he took out a kunai and slipped it under the obi, pulling up to slice through it. Her eyes narrowed again as she held herself up on her forearms, her hands curled into tight fists. He pulled open the single layer of her kimono and found himself looking at her bra and underwear again. He didn't care if it was pretty or not. He lifted the bra with one finger and slid his kunai under it and cut it down the middle, smiling when the swells of her breasts were revealed. He moved on to cut her underwear as well, and pulled it away. Still grinning, he sat back on his knees to start undoing his pants, but a sudden kick right to his chest knocked the wind out of him and he fell onto his back, caught completely off guard.

Temari snatched the kunai from him and stood over him with her knees on either side of his hips, then slashed across his vest, cutting through it and the zipper and even his skin a little. Cutting the clothing more, she ripped it away like a wolf rips meat from its prey, than backed up and did the same to his pants. She dropped her kimono and her bra from her shoulders before leaning down and slowly pulling his pants away, knowing that the lack of speed annoyed him. But she smiled, or rather, bared her teeth, then bit into the fabric of his boxers. When she ripped that away he gasped, more afraid of her than he had ever been of anyone. With their clothes out of the way, her hand closed around him and she rose up onto her knees again, exploring his length with her fingers. When she ran her thumb over the head, he gasped again, lifting himself up onto his forearms as she started to position him, bringing the head closer and closer to where it needed to be until it just caressed her, and unable to wait any longer he dropped onto his back and grabbed her hips, forcing her down hard enough to break through her barrier on the first try. She shut her eyes tightly, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out in pain, and when she rose up again he saw the blood spattered over his legs and abdomen. His eyes widened as he wondered if she was alright, but she came down on him again, tensing her muscles to press against him harder, and he stopped caring. He held onto her hips as she rose and fell on her knees, swinging her hips in figure eights and almost letting him fall out then rhythmically plunging him back in, all the way to the roots. For a while he watched her chest bounce and heave, then brought his attention to her face. Her eyes were closed, her mouth open as she moaned, and he let his head fall back, enjoying the absolute pleasure as it coursed through his whole body then gathered all at one point, and he cried out as it was released.

She sat there for a moment after he came, listening to their bodies and the rain and feeling him inside her, but she started to lose the feeling after a while as he slid out. The euphoria in the middle of her chest just faded away, dispersing like the remnants of a storm. It continued to rain outside. She climbed off of him and sat down beside him, breathing heavily. He lay there on his back, his eyes closed as he did the same, until she kissed his open mouth. It was when she broke away that he opened his eyes and looked at her kneeling beside him.

"Shut up," she snapped before he could say anything, reaching for him.

Her fingers traced out the thin cut she had accidentally made across his chest. It had hardly even bled, so she knew it wouldn't leave a scar. But part of her wanted for there to be a scar, to have left her mark on him. Her hand continued to slide down as it occurred to her that neither of them had taken the time to explore each other's bodies. She leaned down and kissed the cut, then let her lips travel downwards to where their combined essences had fallen. She licked it off slowly, bringing her tongue into where his thigh joined his torso, and he spread his legs for her, becoming aroused once more.

This time, she looked at him more carefully. Taking him gently between her fingers she observed and experimented, bringing one finger gently along the middle from the tip to where his length met his body as she studied a tiny scar, probably from circumcision. She pressed her lips against the scar and he breathed in sharply, reaching with one hand to undo her ponytails and wind her damp, coarse hair around his fingers. He pushed her head down, asking her to taste him, and she obliged, letting him slide in along her tongue as far as she could let him, then slowly come back out. He glistened with her saliva and she did it again, but even slower, taking the time to wrap her tongue around him and massage the roots, then explore the contours of the head with her tongue. He continued to breath sharply, pushing her head down again, and she cast an eye at him as she came up again, letting him see her tongue on the head for a brief moment before going back down. Stroking her hair, his breath came faster, and he whispered, "Come on..." earning a gentle nip from her.

"I told you to shut up," she replied quietly, her eyes closed as she kissed the shaft. He could feel her hot breath on it as she clamped her lips around it, and he grit his teeth.

She was too far away. That was what he felt as he watched her enjoying herself, her eyes glimmering like those pools of water he had been thinking about earlier beneath her long golden lashes, three quarters of the way closed. All of the heat in his body was focused there in his groin, but he wanted to be on top of her, with the heat all over his body again. A spasm went through him and he forgot what he was thinking about as she cast those eyes at him, and even before he could bury his hand in her hair again and force her head down she had taken his entire length in her mouth and breathed in, inviting his essence into her. He shouted her name as he came, then stared at her in shock as her throat rippled. She had swallowed.

When she let him fall out of her mouth, her lips glistened and she wiped them with the back of her hand. Without smiling she crawled beside him and dropped her head onto his chest, rubbing her cheek against him and running one hand across him to grip his shoulder. He could feel her breasts against his side and she crossed one of her legs over one of his, so he could feel the warmth and wetness between her legs on his thigh. Tentatively, he put his arm around her shoulders and stroked her arm, then sneaked his hand beneath it to feel her breast. She pressed herself against him harder, wrapping her leg around his and putting her ankle under his calf.

A wide, satisfied grin spread across his face as he thought about the situation. All he needed now was a cigarette, and he nodded to himself. This was cool. He had just had sex with an older woman. That gave him some extra points didn't it? He was so busy thinking about his own coolness factor that he forgot about her for a minute, but then he remembered her on him, and wondered what she must be thinking. But it annoyed him to think about her needs and he pursed his lips. Rolling his eyes, he turned his head and gently kissed her forehead, playing with her nipple between two fingers, but he felt her frown.

"What's the-" he started to ask, but she cut him off.

"Shut _up_."

"Will you quit it already?"

"Stop _talking!_"

He sat up quickly and she moved over. "What the hell is your-? I don't want to know. I don't want to know," he corrected himself, sighing as he stood up and started to gather the rags on the floor that were once his clothes. "What am I supposed to say happened to my vest?"

Her eyes narrowed. "It's only your vest. You can say it was training. What am I supposed to say about my _underwear_?"

He smiled. "Training."

"Don't mess with me!"

"Who's gonna know that you're naked under your kimono?" He tried to see if he could piece his pants back together but they were torn into entirely too many pieces.

"My obi is ruined. I can't tie it on. Why the hell did you have to cut it?" She glared at his back with her hands on her hips.

"Next time, just don't wear one."

She stood up. "There won't be a next time."

Finally he turned around, still wearing a joking smile. "I'll buy you a new one." he turned back to his pants again and threw them over his forearm. "There's some money in the closet somewhere. Take it."

"Some money in the closet? Some _money_ in the _closet_?" She reached down, grabbed her kimono and pulled it on, walking briskly towards the door. "You are such a child. I can't believe I actually let you- fuck." Whirling around, she ran towards his bathroom and slammed the door shut behind her.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked from outside, leaning his ear against the door, but when he started to hear retching noises he slid it open.

She was kneeling by his toilet with her finger down her throat, but he ran over and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her to her feet. She fought him, shoving him back once she was standing, then turned around to try and finish what she was doing, but he grabbed her wrist and wouldn't let go.

"I _swallowed_ your fucking _cum_! And you couldn't even-! I don't care. Kankurou's gonna start coming here instead because I never want to see you again." She jerked her wrist out of his hand and picked up the remnants of her obi, but neither piece was long enough to tie around her waist properly. Holding the kimono shut with her hands, she stomped out the front door.


	6. Aftermath

Chapter 6 - Aftermath

"Temari. Temari, Temari come on," he called after her, holding out his hands, but she only sneered at him over her shoulder, then closed his door behind her. "Fine. Get out. Having to take care of an immature bitch like you is too much trouble anyway!!" Crossing his arms, he started grumbling to himself then looked down at his body. He still had her blood on him, as well as her saliva and of course their cum. Sighing, he placed one hand on his forehead and walked to his bathroom.

He got in the shower to clean himself off, but as he washed he kept thinking about her eyes, looking at him when she was licking his cock. In his mind, a drop of rain fell into them and they rippled, then she blinked, and he dropped his washcloth, reaching down to touch himself. He leaned back against the wall with his hand pumping, imagining her tongue and her hot breath, the wet warmth of the inside of her mouth and breaking through her barrier inside the tightness of her cunt. He closed his eyes for a split second then opened them again, and screwed up his face.

"Fucking women. And Ino...shit if she sees Temari leaving without her obi I'm never gonna hear the end of it. How the hell did I get into this anyway?" _I don't wanna deal with this now..._ He covered his forehead again, then stretched his back. "I've got to get her back in here so she doesn't say anything, or I'm dead," he told himself, shuddering when he imagined Ino coming over with her fists at the ready, or worse, with a big grin as she jumped around him, pestering him with questions while he tried to smoke a cigarette. Then if either of them talked, no one would stop gossiping about them and that definitely wasn't something he wanted.

He jumped out of the shower and dried off as quickly as he could, then ran to his closet and pulled on some clothes, grabbing some money. As soon as he was dressed he ran outside, only to find that not only was there a monsoon going on, but it was thundering and lightning was flashing. And, his umbrella was gone.

"I hate you, Temari, I hate you," he told himself as his muscles tensed, highly irritated. But instead of dwelling on it, he ran down the stairs. Now unless Temari was in a particularly troublesome mood, she would either go through the park like she had before or she would take her normal route to the gates. Since she had his umbrella it was more likely that she would take the normal route, but then whoever was outside would see her no matter what, and if anyone was crazy enough to be outside at the moment, it was certainly Ino.

He ran down the middle of the empty streets and caught sight of the soaking bottom of a black kimono beneath what was certainly his umbrella, and he grabbed Temari's shoulder, turning her around and diving under the umbrella.

"What do you want?" she growled at him, her eyes flashing as he imagined that drop of rain in them again. She held the umbrella in one hand, holding her kimono closed in the other, and her mouth was curved down into a frown.

He leaned towards her, with his hands in his pockets. "I need you to come back," he said quietly, his eyes darting around to make sure no one was around.

"What the fuck f-?" she began to yell, but he covered her mouth with one hand.

"Shut up! Do you want someone to see us? Stop yelling!" he hissed.

She bit into his hand and he yelped, then she narrowed her eyes at him, her glare penetrating his. "Don't follow me," she said quietly, but as she continued her voice grew louder. "I told you I never want to see you again. Do you think that you can just come after me and ask me to come back? I don't even like you. We're not even friends." It was like reverse psychology or something. His mother usually screamed at the top of her lungs and threatened him with whatever was lying within her reach, but he always knew that she would regret it and be gentle later. As for Temari however, there was so much fire in her low voice that he grew genuinely worried that she would do something worse than just hit him. But since she wasn't related to him and he wouldn't have to see her every day, he just sighed once she was finished.

"Fine," he replied, then reached into his pocket and took out his money, which had been soaked with the rest of him. "I don't want you to come back. I just don't want you to be seen like that or Ino will never leave me alone. I don't care whether you come back to my place or not. Just don't mention this to anyone. I'll keep my mouth shut." He dropped the money in front of her, expecting her to catch it. "Buy yourself a new obi before you leave."

She crossed her arms and it hit the floor. "I'm not accepting that. I'm not picking it up."

He gritted his teeth. "Well neither am I. Please, just buy yourself an obi and have some lunch or something and go."

She shook her head in disbelief. "You're so fucking insensitive. Just like a little kid."

"I'll pick it up if you just take it."

"No."

"Temari,"

"I never said you could call me that."

His eyes narrowed. "Temari, pick up the money."

"No."

"Temari."

"No."

His shoulders dropped, and he knelt, picking up the money, then put it back in his pocket and held out his hand. "Give me back my umbrella."

She smiled, raising her eyebrows. "No."

"...Will you please just come back to my apartment already? I don't want to stand here arguing anymore! I'm freezing!"

She actually laughed. "Troublesome, isn't it?"

"Shut up. Just shut up. Please just shut up."

Taking a step forward, she linked arms with him. "Is there a washing machine at your place?"

"The laundromat's across the street."

"You're doing my laundry."

"Prostitute laundry?"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Just walk."

They walked slowly back to his building, and she smirked every time he looked around to make sure no one was nearby. When they got upstairs they took off their shoes and walked to the bathroom to get some towels without saying a word. Back in the main room they both took off all of their clothes and wrapped towels around themselves, then he sat on the windowsill with his elbows on his knees, his legs spread, and she went through his cabinets.

"You don't have anything lying around. Not even a goddamned beer. I'm starving," she said, and he just smiled, looking at her backside when she bent over to look in the lower cabinets. "I feel like I lost ten pounds just fucking," she murmured under her breath, but he heard her perfectly.

"Me too."

"Then go out and buy some food. And something for me to wear, and a toothbrush while you're at it. There's no way I'm going out again."

"I was talking about the other thing you said."

"Whatever. Whatever."

"I don't want to go out either." He put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the window. "I'm done for the day."

"_Get your ass up and buy some food_."

He laughed. "I'm tired."

She slammed his cabinet doors shut and walked over to his closet, then unrolled one of the futons. "You don't have a TV or anything. What do you do when you don't have a mission?"

"I hang out outside. But I'd rather just stay in, especially today."

"I hate rain." She lay back on the futon and stared at his ceiling. "I've always hated it. But I hate it even more now."

He smirked. "Because now every time it rains you're going to think about me."

"You? Fuck you. Your dick is more like it." She got into what she didn't realize was his favorite cloud-watching position and bounced her foot impatiently.

His smirk faded to something more gentle and he got up and took out a cigarette. He lit it as he stood beside her futon, covering the flame from the lighter out of habit. Turning onto her stomach, she crossed her arms over the pillow and placed her head on them, watching him with her mouth hidden. He walked back over to the windowsill and sat back down, closing his eyes.

"My dick, eh?" he said quietly, entwining his fingers behind his head with his eyes still closed.

He wasn't smiling and she blinked. "Yeah," she replied, her voice muffled slightly by her arms.

"That's nice."

"Why do you even bother talking if you don't have anything to say?"

"Because you know you've found someone special when you can comfortably share silence."

"Is that from Pulp Fiction?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"So you were fine not saying anything. How was that a problem?" She raised her head a little and frowned at him.

He opened his eyes just a crack, and they glimmered, but he didn't say anything.

She blinked as she put her head back down. He didn't want her to be special. She understood that that was what he meant. Ninjas...they were better off if no one was special to them. Closing her eyes, she tried to go to sleep in order to keep her mind off the fact that even though he was right, it still hurt.

A few moments later in which all they could hear was the rain, she felt him pull back the covers of the futon she was in and climb in beside her, then place his head on the pillow. She moved over instinctively and opened her eyes only to find that his were closed. She turned onto her back.

"When did we get so familiar, anyway?" she asked quietly, and watched the smoke from his cigarette drift to the ceiling.

"I don't know."

"Oh..." she sighed, then covered her face. "I still can't believe we actually...no..."

"That's my line."

"You started it."

"I know. And I wasn't ready to finish it yet when you started getting all upset. But... I don't want to know what your problem was."

"Of course not. Why would you? You're a stupid little horny teenage boy who probably feels all cool now that he's done it with an older woman."

"Oh, eighteen is a ripe old age."

"...I don't like this."

"Like what?"

"This fighting. We're Sand and Leaf ninjas. We're not here to fight."

He opened his eyes and propped himself up on one elbow as he looked down at her, frowning. "This isn't about alliances anymore."

"Yes, but my question is, is it bigger or smaller than that?" She wasn't even entirely sure what she was talking about when she said 'it'. She wasn't bold enough to classify what was happening between them.


	7. Meaning

Chapter 7 – Meaning

_Warning: This chapter is all about the sex._

_A/N: In all honesty, I can't actually reread the details of the sex unless I'm in a specific mood, so I wanted to take it all out and redo it somehow, but then I would have to take out the lines that I really like and I would have a really hard time incorporating them back into the story. (Heh, that was a run-on sentence!) Please feel free to skip over the details and just read the better parts, because that's what I do. I'm horribly embarrassed. blush _

He took his cigarette out of his mouth as he looked down at her. Her dark eyes looked tired and full of anxiety, like this was a problem she was forced to deal with even though she had no idea how. She wasn't quite as mature as she made herself out to be. He briefly considered just kissing her, but as much as he wanted to, he felt like that would make the problem worse, and so he put the cigarette back in his mouth.

"Smaller. Alliances between our villages are more important than this," he finally said, looking away.

Her eyes fell to the cut she had made on him, and she wished she had made it deeper. "You're right," she agreed, even though it certainly didn't feel that way. "...Do you have needles and thread?"

"For what?"

"My obi. I should get going but you said I couldn't be seen without it. I understand why."

"...I'll buy you a new one later. Just relax."

She turned onto her side, facing away from him. "...Did you still want to finish what you started?"

He raised one eyebrow, not knowing if she was just pretending to be serious or not. "What do you mean?"

"You can, if you want. We might as well," she sighed, closing her eyes like she was going to sleep.

"That's not like you."

"How would you know?" She was sitting up instantly, her eyes flashing. "Why do you keep acting like you know me when you obviously don't want to? You haven't changed at all! Are you too much of a coward to just admit that you w-"

He cut her off with a harsh kiss and she placed her hand on the back of his head, entwining her fingers in his soft hair and pushing him against her harder. Both of them removed their towels as they kissed, saliva leaking from the corners of their mouths when they opened them wider, their tongues snaking around each other in the air when they switched sides, the tips of their noses rubbing against each other's cheeks. She bit his lower lip gently then let go as he moved down, his fingers running along her throat and his lips soon following.

He studied nearly every detail of her body, touching her in different ways, tasting her in different places, slowly calculating exactly what he would have to do to give her the most pleasure. She sat back and let him explore her, sometimes leading his hands along the curves of her body and other times caressing his cheek or running her fingers through his hair. He placed both hands on the insides of her thighs, her skin smooth and white from being hidden under her kimono, but her muscles hard and prominent. He stroked her legs from the back of her knees upwards to her torso, pushing them apart to reveal the pink between them, the one place he had avoided until now. He continued to stroke her, his entire hand pressed against her skin, and he lifted her knees up, pushing them back until they were almost against her chest and she held them in place as he reached under her to feel her backside, digging his fingers into what little flesh she had there. Her entire body was tight and hard with muscle, all except for her breasts, but there the hardness of her nipples pleased him. She was nearly dripping wet at this point, silently begging him to touch her there, but she didn't want to rush him or disturb the slow silence. He had a small smile on his face as he took one of her ankles and kissed it, keeping his other hand beneath her. That hand moved over as his other traveled down her leg and she pulled her knee towards her chest again, staying as open as possible. Two of his fingers slid between her cheeks then he pulled them slowly upwards, and her breaths became shorter and shorter the closer he got. When his fingertips finally brushed against her lower lips she whimpered; his hands felt cold when so much heat was exuding from that area. He pushed his fingers in as far as he could, the folds of her pink flesh enclosing them, then he took them out again and rubbed her essence between his thumb and his fingers like it was saliva. With his fingers on her thighs where they met her torso, he used his thumbs to pull her lips apart then plunged his tongue between them, and she gasped.

Like he had done when she was kissing him, she placed her hands on the back of his head and pushed him down, the mere sight of his face between her legs driving her crazy with pleasure. She held him down with one hand, her other hand gliding upwards along her stomach to one of her breasts which she cupped, her own nipple pressed against the middle of her palm. She wanted to close her thighs, for him to be lost in her body, but he held them apart, giving himself space to try different things. With two fingers inside of her again and his other hand on her thigh, he bit her inside and she screamed. He smiled, and did it again. She had ridiculed him so many times and even though there had never been anything sexual about it, his getting back at her in this way made it mean something else. She had been dominant, always mature and in control of herself, always selfless and daring, and when she scorned him she had been telling him that she was above him. Something in her needed to put him down, to have him beneath her and in her control. But even in this submissive position he could show her that he was now in control, that he would not only watch her become emotional, he would _make_ her do it. He was going to _make_ her scream, whether it was in fear or pain or pleasure, he was going to _make_ her cry, and he was going to enjoy it, just like she had enjoyed watching him get upset in the hospital what seemed like many, many years ago. So he bit her a little harder, enough for it to actually hurt -he had been gentle before- and he licked and kissed the tender spot as she cried out. When he stopped biting her, he dragged his tongue up along all of the layers inside and finally out, just touching her coarse hair before he lifted his head and pulled himself up over her.

With his nose touching hers and nearly all of his weight on her, he put his hand under her neck and kissed her with his eyes open. She squeezed hers shut, the tears that had been glistening in them when he looked at them leaking out as he bit her lip, the fingertips of his free hand digging into her breast. She moaned against his mouth, her hands curled into paws and she pushed his shoulders, but her strength was gone. With his penis rubbing against her but not inside, she came, a small rush of some warm, clear liquid washing over him. She reached down to connect him to her but he didn't allow her to. This time he would do it. He wrapped his fingers around his member, which was burning with the heat of his blood inside and so hard that it hurt, then slowly rubbed the head up and down her pulsing clit. He stopped kissing her and instead watched her, smiling faintly as she writhed beneath him, tossing her head to one side as she cried out, her chest heaving against his. He took one breast in his hand again and massaged it, pushing himself inside of her. With each coming thrust she moaned louder, tears falling freely down the sides of her face. He pressed his lips against her tears, licking them away with the tip of his tongue as his thighs mashed against hers, then he pulled almost all of the way out and threw himself in again.

Every single vein and nerve in her body was pulsing, threatening to explode, and her moans brought her no peace. She wrapped her arms around his back and pressed her thighs against his hips, wanting to crush his hard body into hers, to mash his bones until they were both a part of each other, one entity, one body, one mind. Even after he had released his seed inside of her, she held him tightly as his entire weight fell on her, his body hot. They were both sweating and he didn't pull out, resting on top of her and trying to catch his breath. She sobbed noiselessly without knowing why, her eyes squeezed shut and her teeth bared, her cheek against his neck and her nose in his hair. She didn't want his weight removed from her and she kept her arms wrapped around his neck, clutching his shoulder and holding his head down next to hers, her ankles crossed over his backside.

When she ran out of tears, she lay staring at the ceiling, her lips parted as she breathed deeply. Her hold on him had greatly loosened, all of her energy dispersed. She could feel his breath against her neck, hot in the small space where his nose was, and both of their chests expanding against each other. She could feel her heart beating everywhere, perfectly in sync with his and steadily slowing down. She felt their heartbeats so clearly that she could hear them, and suddenly she realized that it was still raining. The window was dark, and the only light in the room came from the sliver of moonlight that fell just over her face. She gently wrapped her arms around him again, placing her feet flat on the futon and pressed her cheek against the side of his head.

"You've changed," she whispered, and kissed his cheek by his ear, closing her eyes. The rain was falling slowly, making a sound as calming as ocean waves, and as she breathed, she forgot about the existence of anything but her, Shikamaru, and the rain, and drifted into sleep.

_You have too_, he thought to himself, then did the same.


	8. Feeling

Chapter 8 – Feeling

_A/N: Normally I wouldn't put up two chapters in the space of two days, but, I finished writing this story last night. (FYI, I have never, ever, ever finished a fanfic before now. This is a big deal for me!) So to celebrate, here's another chapter! I hope you all enjoy it. There are only two chapters left after this!_

She awoke to find herself alone yet again. Squinting and rubbing her eyes, she sat up. It had rained all throughout the night, and as she wandered over to the window she saw that it was still drizzling. But far off in the distance the clouds were dispersing, showing her that the storm would pass within a matter of hours. She sighed. After last night, she had honestly expected it to rain forever. But now, the hint of sun and blue sky was awakening. She didn't live with Shikamaru. That sex meant...who knows what it meant, but she wasn't his girlfriend. She was a messenger from the Sand, relaying things for the next Chuunin exam and being escorted by Shikamaru. She had gone to a party, danced her ass off and spent the night at his place. Twice. It was time for her to go home.

She searched for her kimono and a note at the same time, remembering that he had left her one the day before that she hadn't found. But she didn't see either item. A small smile crossed her lips and she sat on the windowsill, naked, as she pulled the red pillow into her arms and buried her face in it. It smelled like him, like some mix between shampoo and deodorant spray and sweat and something uniquely _boy. _She assumed he had hidden her kimono so that she wouldn't leave, and something about that made her happy. Stroking the pillow, she went over what had happened the night before, and her smile faded into a wistful look as she remembered the feeling she had, that feeling of wanting to be one with him. She clutched the pillow tighter, the feeling intensified in her memory as something instinctively protective, something that made her heart swell as she thought about it more. Then it occurred to her that she simply wanted him to belong to her, her own lazy, young Shikamaru. But, blinking, she imagined the faces of her brothers, her students, the godaime hokage, everyone she knew, and she dismissed the feeling completely.

"I guess you couldn't take off without any clothes, eh?"

The front door swung open and Shikamaru stepped in with a smile, putting down a huge white paper bag as he took off his shoes. When he was finished he stood there and looked at her, his smile gone. Her body was encased in a blue-gray glow from the light in the window as she sat in the middle of the windowsill, the red pillow in her lap standing out and covering her private areas. Her hair was down and her eyes seemed dull. But when he spoke her eyes flashed, and she looked up at him, frowning.

"So that's why I couldn't find my kimono."

"I figured you wouldn't need it," he replied simply, then brought the bag to his counter.

"Did you bring food?" she asked expectantly, raising one eyebrow. "I can't believe you live like this with nothing here."

He shrugged. "You were fine about it last night." That was what he hated about women more than anything else. They were all bipolar.

"Yes well that was last night, and this is the morning. I finally got my head straight after a good night's sleep," she snapped, crossing her arms over the pillow and looking away.

"Hn." He pulled a small box out of the bag, then tossed it over to her. "Here. Now stop complaining about it."

She caught it between her palms then dropped it in her lap and opened it. "Finally. But this isn't going to do me much good without my kimono."

"I'll give it to you later. I think I forgot where I put it." Turning around and covering his mouth, he yawned, then leaned back against the counter.

"_Forgot_ where you _put_ it? Find my kimono! You shouldn't have been touching it in the first place!"

"Yeah I know. It was all dirty. Muffin?"

"_Muffi_- oh." Her stomach growled as loudly as possible and she looked down at it, then blushed, annoyed. "I'm starving. But I can't eat naked."

"Muffin it is." He reached into one of the bags and pulled out two muffins, then removed all of his clothes. "Muffins, _au naturel_." he said with a grin as he carried them both over.

"I don't want to see you naked while I eat, you idiot!" she protested as he approached, but he held a muffin out for her as he sat down beside her, pressing his thigh against hers even though there was plenty of space. "Are you trying to annoy me?"

"Sure. Just eat." After she snatched the muffin from him, he put one arm behind her and leaned back, biting into the top of his muffin.

She felt the backs of his fingers absent-mindedly caressing her hip, and the side of his chest on her arm. She looked down at her muffin in her hands and shuddered.

"Cold?" he asked, but without waiting for an answer he got up and picked up the blanket from the floor, then sat down beside her again and pulled it over both of their legs. She lifted up the edge to cover her chest and held it there under her arms, letting the red pillow drop to the floor, but he tugged the blanket back down again.

"What do you think you're doing? I'm freezing!" she said, looking at him in disbelief, but he wasn't paying attention to her face.

"So I see," he replied, grinning as he looked at her chest.

"Lecherous bastard," she snarled, pulling the blanket up as she turned away. "It's too early."

"It's almost noon,"

"I'm not going to get home until late tonight, then."

"...yeah." His smile disappeared and he picked up his muffin, then resumed eating. He even moved over a little, so his thigh wasn't touching hers.

She pursed her lips as she glanced at him, then picked up her own muffin. Suddenly she didn't feel hungry as she touched the top, but she knew she had to eat and so she forced herself to take big bites and finish quickly.

He assumed that the reason she was eating so fast was because she wanted to leave, and he placed his chin in his hand, crumpling the muffin wrapper in his other hand. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to think. He had avoided thinking about what happened last night all morning, but with her sitting right there he couldn't avoid it anymore. _I'll at least wait until she says something_, he told himself, wanting to put it off further. But knowing how stubborn she could be, he wondered if she would say anything at all.

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Ino had never spent the night at a boy's house before. She had assumed that the only reason a girl would was to have sex, and there was nothing artistic about that. Of course, that's where she was wrong.

Finding herself at Sai's place -which was littered with paper and brushes and ink- after seeing Shikamaru and Temari, she sat down in the only place that was clear; one spot in the middle of the floor. She waited for him to say something, but he walked briskly over to a door and opened it, then pulled out a white sheet. Approaching her, he held it out.

"Take this."

"Why...?"

He knelt down and started gathering up all of the papers around her, and she stared at him as he cleaned up his house. Within a few minutes everything had been stacked in a corner on the floor, and she was left with a clear space around her.

"Let me have that." He took the sheet from her again and threw it on the floor haphazardly, then pointed at it. "That is your only prop. Be still."

Ino's eyes widened. Sai was going to draw her. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that he hadn't asked her to remove her clothes. Who knows what would happen if she did that. She certainly would have a hard time controlling herself. Stretching out across the sheet, she gathered some of it into her arms and lay on her stomach, dragging her knee upwards.

"Is this okay?" she asked, but he had already started sketching, sitting on a chair in front of her and glancing at her repeatedly. His hand moved so quickly that within minutes, he was ripping that sheet out of the notebook and placing it on the floor beside him.

"Change positions," he said, and waited for her to do so.

At least ten poses later, he stopped in the middle of one of his drawings and picked up the others. They were just like all of the other pictures he had ever drawn. Perfectly accurate representations of his model, but they lacked what he was trying so hard to get. Emotion. It was probably because he didn't feel anything about her, but then he didn't feel anything about anyone. He put the drawings down in his lap and looked at her long and hard, trying to decide exactly what he thought of her. She wasn't beautiful, but she wasn't ugly either. She was normal, just like everyone else apart from her long, bright blond hair.

"How do you force yourself to feel...?" he murmured to himself. "How do you translate that into a drawing?"

Ino listened, knowing that the dilemma he was having wasn't about her. He was merely using her to get to something greater that had been beaten out of him as a child, something he assumed would be lost forever but he now wanted to find again. She tried to think of a way to answer his question, to be of some use to him so that he would keep her around, but she hid her face in her arms. There was nothing she could do. He didn't like her or dislike her, and she was helpless when it came to changing his mind.

He frowned slightly, wondering why her shoulders were suddenly shaking, but when he heard her sniffle, he knew what she was doing.

"Sadness. But do I put hers on the page or my own?" He didn't feel sad, even as he looked at her, but he knew that he had to share her emotion somehow or it wouldn't come out on the page. He tried to imagine what she was thinking about that could make her sad, but nothing was coming to mind. He understood a lot less about emotions than he thought he did. The easiest way to find out was to simply ask her, so he did. "Ino, why are you crying?"

She shook her head, still keeping her face hidden. "I'm not," she said, but her voice was choked and muffled by her arms.

"But you are. Tell me why."

"Because...there's nothing I can do to help you!" She sat up, her hands on the floor as she looked at him, tears streaming down her face. She turned away, starting to wipe her tears with the back of one hand. "I can't make you feel anything, I can't make you care about me. I can't help you, I couldn't help Sasuke," she continued, and listening carefully, he started to draw. "I didn't even try to stop him from leaving. And with you I can try all I want but I don't know what to do. You don't need me here, you need your emotions back, and I have no way of giving them to you. Even if I could, you still wouldn't care about me because you'd be free to feel whatever you wanted about anyone, and, oh god," she dropped her head down onto the floor again just as he finished the drawing, ashamed of herself for breaking down the way she did.

"Sadness..." he said to himself, looking at the drawing. A single tear slid down his cheek, but he couldn't help but smile just a little. "Devastation. Helplessness." He put the drawing down and looked at her, then stood up, taking it with him. "Ino, look. I get it now."

She raised her head to look at the drawing he held out for her. It was absolutely perfect, an exact copy of her, but her position and her face reflected everything that she had been feeling. Even the strokes of the pencil seemed sad, drooping ever so slightly.

"It's amazing," she said, and forced herself to smile.

"Look. You can help me. You just did. You need to show me these things like you did just now. I think I understand." He smiled sweetly, and she returned it. That drawing was proof that he understood. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been reflected so perfectly.

"I'm tired now," she sighed, then rested her head in her arms.

"I know. But I was hoping you would show me one more thing."

"What?"

"I want you to undress." He had read about love and lust. He could recognize lust when he saw it but love was something different from yet connected to lust.

Her eyes widened, and she considered just saying no. But if she had been able to evoke emotion in him simply through feeling it, then maybe... "Okay," she said, and nodded.

He went back to his chair and picked up his paper and pencil again, then watched her, waiting for her to finish. She removed her clothes slowly, and gently, letting them fall to the floor in a pile around her feet, and once they were all off, she stood there in front of him and waited for him to say something. She blushed the whole time without smiling, trying to keep herself from raising her arms to cover her chest or the faint bit of blond between her legs, and he immediately started drawing.

"Change poses. Something you would do if you wanted a man to have sex with you," he said bluntly when he was finished drawing, and she blushed a little more at his lack of eloquence.

She closed her eyes for a minute, and tried to imagine Temari and Shikamaru. If they were doing what she thought they were doing after they had ran so fast to his house, then they must have also done things to turn each other on. She softened her expression and sank to the floor, taking the sheet in her hands. She lay on her side, pulling the sheet between her legs to cover herself there when she spread them apart a little, and she threw another part of the sheet over her arm and covered one breast. She had intended to let the other one show just to tease him, but then she decided to take down her hair and let a few tendrils of it cover her instead. She licked her lips to make them shiny and arranged them in a pout, her eyes half closed and her head cocked to one side. She extended the arm that wasn't holding the sheet and placed it on the floor, spreading her fingers as if to pat the space in front of her and beckon him to it. As a final touch, she whispered, "Sai."

His lips parted as he stared at her, his eyes wide. Hearing that name that didn't even really belong to him made him suddenly weak, but he regained his strength when he realized that anybody could be beautiful if positioned the right way. He felt the lust that she was trying to convey to him, he felt it traveling down his throat, through his chest and straight into his groin. It was a feeling he had never experienced before, not an emotion, and he liked it. He closed his mouth and tried to draw her as quickly as he could because suddenly he wanted to throw it all aside, but he also wanted a record of this. He had never made pornographic drawings. This would be his first. However, he kept having to erase because the single line he wanted to use for the long, gentle curve in her side wasn't coming out the way he wanted it to. He was losing concentration, but he forced himself to focus.

When he finally felt satisfied with the drawing, the lines were more jagged than he would've wanted, but it conveyed how the lust made him unable to focus on drawing what he saw. He placed the drawing gently down on top of the others, and stood up.

Her eyes widened and she squeezed her legs together. His pants were obviously entirely too tight on him at this point, and she gave the smallest gasp as she realized what was going to happen. She started to move back as he came towards her while undoing his belt, and she fell back onto her elbows, fully revealing her chest. He looked at her without smiling, raising the belt up and letting it go, then started to unzip his pants.

_This is what I wanted_, Ino thought, and with her eyes narrowed with determination, she was kneeling at his feet in an instant, reaching up to pull his pants down. Once they were off she bit the waistband of his underwear and slowly slid that down, and he ran his fingers through her hair. When what she had felt the night before at the party was revealed, she smiled. She had been quite right.


	9. Sunlight

Chapter 9 – Sunlight

"I can't believe that old hag would give us a mission on a day like this," Naruto sighed, making his way up the stairs of Sai's apartment building. "And Sakura keeps thinking about what Ino said about Sai so she made me go out in this rain to get him. That lazy..." He continued to grumble to himself as he reached Sai's sliding door, and he slid it open and walked in. "Hey we have a- AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" He spun right back around and ran out, screaming.

He ran all of the way back to his apartment where Sakura waited for him, and once he was safely inside, he dropped to the floor, twitching.

"NARUTO! What's wrong with you? Where's Sai?" she yelled at him, standing over him on the floor as he curled into fetal position.

"Sai...Ino...she was right...he can't...come right now..." Naruto managed to stutter, his eyes the size of plates. He knew all about sex and he thought about it as often as was normal for a boy his age, but come on, his teammate and Sakura's best friend? But, his teammate, Sai, of all people!

"What are you talking about?"

Naruto couldn't get the image out of his mind. Ino's knees back against her chest, her arms around Sai's neck and her mouth against his, Sai's hips swinging forward and back as if to a beat, the blood spattered on the floor right beneath them...it was enough to make Naruto wish he were blind.

"Sai can't come right now! Get that through your head woman!" he yelled at her, standing up only to be thrown back down again by the force with which Sakura's fist connected with his face.

"You'll explain what's going on to me right now or _else,_" she added, placing her hands on her hips as she stood above him.

"I don't _want_ to! Do you really, really want to hear about your best friend and our teammate?" he whined in reply, placing his hand on his swollen cheek.

"What do you mean? Ino and Sai, okay, but what about the-? Oh no, are you saying that, oh no, no, no way, oh my god why did you have to tell me that? That's nasty! Shut up, shut up! I don't want to hear it!" She started to yell at him, covering her ears as she paced the room. "And you walked in on them while they were-? Eeek!"

"Yes! Do you get it now?"

"Yes! But how are we supposed to tell Tsunade-san without starting anything?"

"What do you mean without starting anything? We'll just tell her what I told you! He can't come right now!"

Sakura snorted, then started to laugh, "Oh but he can. He can come just fine, I bet, heh, ha, haaahahahaha!"

"You're gross..."

"Say that one more time. I dare you."

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"Well," Temari said as she stood up, wiping the crumbs off the blanket on her legs, "I need my kimono back so I can leave."

Shikamaru nodded, and followed suit, but instead of going straight to get her kimono, he found himself staring at her back.

"My kimono, please," she repeated, and held out her hand. But when after a few moments nothing was placed in it, she turned her head.

He was having a hard time finding his voice to tell her where it was, but he sat back down, crossed his arms and turned away, trying to act like he didn't care. "It's in the closet. But it's filthy. Go into that white bag on the counter. There's a large box inside. Pull it out."

She snorted. "Don't tell me you bou-"

"The box," he reminded her before she could finish her sentence. At this point he just wanted her to take it and get going. His face was starting to get hot and he didn't want to deal with whatever her way of saying 'thank you' would be, because she wasn't one to say it straight.

Without saying anything further, she slowly walked over to the counter, her hips swaying gently, and she pulled out the box. He couldn't help but watch her hands as she did it- they were moving so fluidly and gently, like she was taking care not to ruin a new manicure. Her movements were deliberate, calculating, not at all spontaneous. She let the blanket she had wrapped around herself fall to the floor as if in slow motion, and Shikamaru watched it settle and pool around her feet as she slid her nails under the tape on the box. She sliced through each of the four pieces with her thumb nail in what would have been extremely quick movements, but Shikamaru could see the tape wrinkle and resist first before snapping into two jagged-edged pieces. Later in life, when he thought about those deceptively every-day movements, he would realize that there had been no way for him to have seen the tape wrinkling from where he was sitting, and he would wonder why he had imagined it all.

When all of the pieces of tape were broken, she placed her hands on either side of the box and lifted off the top. The flimsy cardboard bent where its ends had been folded together, and after placing it beside the bottom on the counter, she dipped her hands into the box. When she lifted them up again, the soft, smooth fabric of the kimono was draped across them. She ran it through her fingers like silk, and as hard as he tried, Shikamaru could not recall the look on her face. He focused only on her hands as they caressed the fabric, lifting it out of its box and holding it up to admire the embroidery on it.

"Shikamaru...this is..." she breathed, but he cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

"Don't thank me. Just get dressed," he said, and suddenly his voice sounded entirely too loud in the silence of the room. "I figure I owed it to you," he added more quietly.

Closing her eyes, she rubbed her cheek against the fabric, then buried her face in it. She could hardly wait to put it on, to feel it against her skin. It was much lighter than her last kimono, and even though it felt like silk, it seemed so much more breathable and cool, and she knew that it wasn't. Rather than being black, it was a blue that was as dark as the night sky, and embroidered along the bottom edge there were blue-gray tear-like shapes.

"Rain-drops," Shikamaru said as he watched her touch them. "I think that they're rain drops. And the fabric is water-proof, in case you ever get caught without an umbrella again."

At this Temari turned her head to look at him, only to find that he had crossed his arms and looked away again. But when he glanced back up, he couldn't avoid meeting her gaze. Her eyes were widened slightly, and not with surprise. Her mouth was closed, and he wondered if she was angry. He couldn't read her expression at all, having never seen anything like it. What he didn't know was that she wasn't quite sure what she was feeling either.

The feeling in her chest that she had previously labeled as euphoria was there, steadily swelling and making her heart beat a little faster, but she didn't feel happy or carefree. She was definitely surprised at the amount of thought Shikamaru had put into buying this kimono, and she was annoyed that he hadn't shown how capable of consideration he could be before now. He rolled his eyes and looked away again, and suddenly she felt a bit afraid too. This beautiful, expensive kimono that she held in her hands... did it mean something?

She stood there and watched him with that gaze that he couldn't understand, watched him silently, and she let her hands drop. Holding the kimono in front of her, she finally blinked, her heartbeat returning to a normal speed. Pursing his lips, he looked up at her with a certain stubborn determination, refusing to look away again as if they were competing. She took in a deep breath, and her eyes seemed sad as she gave in and looked down. Slowly, she walked towards his closet and opened it, then searched through it for her underclothes. After finding them, she bent over and put on her underwear, slipping one foot through a leg-hole first, then the other, and then she straightened her back as she pulled it up.

Shikamaru closed his eyes as she put on her bra. The two of them had been naked together all morning as the sky slowly cleared and revealed its usual blue, and the finality of the situation became more and more apparent with the disappearance of each cloud. By hiding her kimono he had trapped her in his house, but now that she had her new one, she was going to leave. That was the fact. He refused to let himself regret giving her a new kimono, and instead told himself that she didn't belong in the Leaf Village, much less in his house. She and her dark-water eyes were from the Sand village...and he let his mind wander.

He picked up the obi from beside him where she had left it on his windowsill, and when she stood in front of him and held out her hand for it, he hesitated. She stood there with her new kimono wide open, unspeaking and waiting for him to give her the last thing she needed in order to leave, and he gave it to her. He extended his arm, and she caressed his fingers with her own as she took the obi. He closed his eyes again when she turned around to tie it on, and only opened them when she faced him, fully dressed. He didn't stop her when she leaned forward and reached out to place her hand on his cheek, and he didn't close his eyes when her lips met his. She kissed him deeply and let him clasp the back of her neck with one hand, but when she lifted her head, even though he was trying to hold on to her, she continued to pull away. Within minutes she was at the door, her back to him, and she turned her head only to say, "I'm going home now," as quietly as she could.

He couldn't bring himself to say goodbye. Instead he looked out the window, at the sun.

_A/N: The next chapter is the last. _TT


	10. Fin

Chapter 10 -

Two weeks later, Shikamaru found himself strolling a little faster than usual toward the front gate where he was scheduled to meet Temari and escort her to the Hokage's building. There, they would discuss that year's Chuunin exams with the other examiners and sensei, and they would all reach an agreement on the manner in which the Sand Genin would be brought to Konoha and such. He forced himself both to slow down and to take deep breaths. He was much more anxious and nervous than he would have liked to have been, and he couldn't help but wonder how to greet her. He continually told himself that it was no big deal, and it would be too troublesome to think of something elaborate, but the worries kept coming back. As he rounded the corner and faced the gate, his heart gave an involuntary jump and his eyes widened, but then he frowned. It was not Temari that raised one gloved hand and waved, but her brother Kankurou. His heart-rate increased as he wondered what could have happened to her that prevented her from coming to Konoha, until he remembered what she had said to him. "_Kankurou's gonna start coming here instead because I never want to see you again_," she had snarled as she stomped out on that first painful day. But he thought they were okay...

"Hey, Shikamaru-san," Kankurou greeted him.

"Kankurou-san," Shikamaru replied, "I wasn't expecting you. Is..." He supposed he should ask about Temari as not to seem suspicious, so he did. "Is Temari, I mean, is your sister alright? I know this is usually her job,"

"Yeah, but she said she wasn't feeling well. Hopefully it's not too big of a deal for me to have come in her place."

"No... not at all. She could have at least sent a letter about it though..."

The day went as planned, and Shikamaru went home that night feeling annoyed and disappointed.

The next day, however, he spoke to Kankurou again. "In the Suna, has it rained at all recently?" he asked, without quite knowing why.

Kankurou shook his head. "No, not since that party. By the way, Temari wanted me to thank you for letting her stay at your place that night. 'Said she forgot to," he replied graciously enough, but the look he threw at Shikamaru said that he was suspicious.

"Well," Shikamaru wasn't entirely sure what to say to that, so he pulled out a cigarette. "Well she needed a place and mine was right there. No big deal," he said as he lit it, and Kankurou raised one eyebrow.

"Yeah, I don't think it's gonna rain again in the Suna for another year at least," he said. "I'm glad she wasn't any trouble."

"I mean, you know how troublesome girls are in general,"

"Yeah, yeah I know."

The conversation remained awkward, and Shikamaru left it feeling more embarrassed and unsure than when he had gone into it. He wondered how much Kankurou knew about the two nights Shikamaru had spent with his sister, and hoped that she hadn't said anything. He figured he could ask her about it the next time they had a meeting, but Kankurou arrived in her place yet again. He asked after her health once more, and Kankurou explained that she had many other responsibilities at the Suna and had handed him her job. Shikamaru nodded, and gritted his teeth.

That same night, it rained in Konoha, and Shikamaru half-expected to find her on his windowsill when he went home. When he didn't see her there, he sighed, and pulled out a cigarette.

--------------------------

By the time the next year came around, he had all but forgotten the whole three-day affair as he lay back on the grass in the park. He stared up at the clouds, blowing gray smoke at them. The smoke seemed to hang in the air and tint the color of the clouds, but with a start he realized that the clouds weren't tinted at all; they actually were gray. The park had been unusually quiet and empty all afternoon, and Shikamaru now knew why. A storm was coming in, and coming in fast. Just as he stood up, the sky darkened, and he started mumbling curses under his breath about not having his umbrella. Had he really been paying so little attention that he didn't notice the storm, or was it just extremely fast? Either way, he sighed, and hurried home.

He made it into his building just as the torrent of rain unleashed itself, and he glanced over his shoulder as he walked up the stairs. This was no light summer rain, but a heavy downpour that he was very glad to be out of. He stopped in the staircase and looked out one of the tiny windows in the wall. The sound of rain had made him anxious all during the last year, but he felt strangely calm now. Temari's eyes came to mind, the eyes he had been envisioning as big, dark, endless pools of water, and rain fell from the blackness surrounding them, causing them to ripple. He blinked, and continued up the stairs.

Time seemed to slow down as he approached his door, and when he found that it was unlocked, he wasn't worried at all. As he pushed it open, cigarette smoke wafted out into the hallway, and he stepped inside.

Leaning back against the door, he crossed his arms and let one corner of his mouth curve upwards.

Temari sat on his windowsill with one foot up in front of her and one arm around his red pillow, staring out the window. She raised her lit cigarette to her lips, then turned her head to face him. Lowering the cigarette again, she blew smoke from between her lips in his direction, and smiled.

He smiled back.

Fin

_A/N: I really hope you've all enjoyed this story. Thank you so much for reading it, and a special thanks to those who reviewed. Without all of your support I definitely would never have finished this._

_Also, shout-out to Hollyjade (even though she quit reading this). You don't know how much you really helped me, Senpai. _

_ 3's, Alina_


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